HYGIENE IN THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18861, 14 May 1923, Page 8

HYGIENE IN THE WAR

A TRIUMPH FOR SCIENCE. EFFECTS OF MODERN SANITATION. The measures adopted for the prevention of disease among the troops form the subject of two volumes on the “Hygiene of the War,” now issued - as part of the “Official Medical History of the War,” of which Major-general Sir W. G. Macpherson is the general editor. ■ The volumes show an immense advance on hygienic onditions during previous wars. The subjects dealt with include the use of prophylactic vaccines; purification of water supplies; disposal of waste products; mosquito destruction; vaccination; scientific diet; and the study of tropical diseases. Among British troops during the South African War, with an average strength of 208,C00 and an aggregate of 530,000, no fewer than 58,000 suffered from typhoid fever and over £OOO died of the disease; whereas in the Great War, with an average strength of millions and an aggregate of three or four times that number, the cases of typhoid and paratyphoid fever on the Western Front for British and dominion troops were less than 7500, with 266 deaths only. 'ihe records of dvsentery are equally striking. In the South African War the admission rate was 85 per 1000 of stre'ngth ; on the Western Front, in the Great War it never exceeded 6.18 in any year. Prophylactic vaccines‘played an important part in the prevention of these and other diseases; but in achieving these results sanitation also played a vital part, and this co-operation was most instructive in two main directions—the purification of . water supplies and the sanitary disposal of waste products, wi th which two problems were closely allied that of preventing pollution of the soil , The extraordinary arrangements by which tne foulest water, such as that of the canals in 1* ranee ■ and Belgium, are rapidly converted into pure drinking water are exhaustively described in these volumes. in connection with the question of water supplies, D,r W. F. Hume, the Director o£ wJ’ 6 ? 19 **? 81 Sun ; e y of Egypt- investifhf w fv m I geologic^ l point of view, he localities where dnniling water was most ly l° obtained bv borings in • areas over Which our forces advanced into Paleso IS reconnaissance of the supplies in North Smai and the . Wadi el-Ghuzzes near uaza; resulted in the discovery of su&cient a wr/** m .u front u° f Gaza t 0 maintain a large force there throughout the summer fi ’ u- a descri Ption of his activities vnh.owl all - lm P° rt “t matter proves how le -m®;y bc.the assistance of a geologst to both sanitary and engineering services of a force operating in a country more or less destitute of water. Tdie war brought into prominence many fiel ds for sanitary action, notably the importance of destroying all waste products by means of incineration. The main problem- here was to improvise means of disposal which could: be rapidly constructed anywhere during periods of. mobile warfare. Where , incineration was not feasible much ingenuity was displayed in, constructing burial pits, such as would meet the important- requirement of preventing flies breeding in or haying access to the , waste products. The_various devices used are fully dG IHJ' , “ 6d and illustrated in the, first volume. .Ihe second volume of the series is largely concerned with the various steps taken with a view to the prevention of specific diseases, like malaria, cerebro-spinal fever, plague, smallpox, trench-foot, and trachoma. In connection with the outbreak of smallpox m Mesopotamia during, the war, the danger of allowing soldiers who object to vaccination to serve in a country where the disease is epidemic is fully demonstrated. , In two regimenls affected by smallpox the combined strength was 1749, of which 204 men were unprotected by efficient vaccination, there were 25 cases of.smallpox, with five deaths, in the unprotected, and five cases, with,no deaths, in the protected. The following passage states the case for compulsory vaccination: ‘The lessons taught by the war on the subject of smallpox stand out clearly. If compulsory vaccination is not - permitted, and men unprotected from smallpox by vaccination are sent to % .war area where the disease is epidemic, a sharp epidemic may flare up, as happened in the French' army during 1870-71. 1 It was unfortunate that in Mesopotamia the one great essential in combating smallpox was denied to the medical services—namely, compulsory vaccination,” , ! ■

The main factor in the anti-malaria work of our units was.that of mosquito destruction, in which connection by the removal of breeding places by canalising rivers and marshy nullahs, channelling grass-land streams, with stone edges, and draining in-fested-areas the pest was at least reduced to a minimum. -/ ;

How important a part the question of diet plays in the health of an army is emphasised, in the chapters, on the prevention of food deficiency diseases. A_ scientific diet was essential to the prevention of those.diseases, .scurvy and beri-beri, which are so detrimental to a soldier's energy. It was found that fresh fruit juices, like lemon, were among the most valuable of tli6 anti-scor-butic,. materials;, while as regards the prevention of beri-beri experience showed that "all biscuit destined for use by troops on active service should be composed either entirely of whole wheat meal, or of wheat flour to which an adequate proportion of wheat germ has been added," or, in other words, it- would seem to be established that "pure wheat flour" contains sufficient ■ anti-beri-beri vitamine to prevent the development of 'the symptoms. - In connection with tropical diseases, the second volume contains a valuable chapter on the investigations by Professor E. T. Loiper into the method by which the means of transmission of the diseases, known as bilharziasis in Egypt was clearly exposed and prevented. Professor Leiper's great work was the discovery that the cercanas of snails, containing the parasite, found in various waters, entered the human body and so gave rise to bilharziasis.